Parsvnath International Open – Heading for a close finish

At the end of penultimate round matches at Ludlow Castle Sports Complex on Sunday, Filipino Grandmasters Oliver Barbosa and John Paul Gomez leading the table with eight and half points after registering emphatic victories over Grandmasters Mark Paragua and Deepan Chakkravarthy in the tenth round.

Indian International Masters Lalith Babu M R, K Rathnakaran and Shyam Nikil along with untitled Chinese player Ma Qun are closely following the leaders with a drift of half point in this Rs. 15 lakh prize money tournament.

Oliver Barbosa and Mark Paragua

In the tenth round encounters, playing with white pieces in Grunfeld defence, Barbosa not given any chances to his countrymen rival to seal the match in 33 moves. Gomez overcame his Indian rival in 42 moves while displaying a solid tactical game in the King’s Indian defence.

Rathnakaran outwitted Kazakh International Master Kiril Kuderinov while Ma Qun shocked fifth seed Russian Grandmaster Andrei Deviatkin to occupy the joint second spot with Lalith Babu and Shyam Nikil, who overcame their Indian International Master rivals Vishnu Prasanna and S Nitin respectively in the tenth round.

Meanwhile Delhi youngster Hemant Sharma brought cheers to the home crowd by making his maiden International Master norm after signing the peace treaty with International Master Ashwin Jayaram.

Gomez John Paul and Deepan Chakkravarthy

In surprising results of the day, Kerala youngster Narayanan S L stunned Grandmaster Henrik Danielsen of Iceland while International Master Himanshu Sharma suffered shock defeat by the hands of Tamilnadu based R A Pradeep Kumar.

Barbosa takes on Shyam Nikil while Gomez paired with Ma Qun in the eleventh and final round, which will be held at Monday morning.